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Dream Bowl
2024 Hillsdale vs Michigan Tech

GLIAC Football Preview & Predictions: Top-25 Showdown Ahead For GVSU

GLIAC Football Preview & Predictions: Top-25 Showdown Ahead For GVSU

Here’s a look ahead at the matchups across the GLIAC football world this week — along with predictions for how each game could go.

Sep 13, 2024 by Briar Napier
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For the first time this year, we will have every Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football team playing on the same day this weekend.

In a loaded Saturday slate, all eight of the GLIAC’s football-playing schools will compete against opponents in non-conference play, trying to beef up their resumes and experiences before the always-tough conference schedule looming in a few weeks.

Some old regional rivalries are being revived while other programs are looking for merely the best games possible, traveling far and wide to get them. For those with playoff and conference championship aspirations, every week of getting better and pitting themselves against non-GLIAC opposition will prepare them for what’s to come.

And if you can’t get enough of GLIAC or Division II football for this week and the future, you’re in luck, because FloFootball is the exclusive home to many of D2's top football conferences (including the GLIAC) all season long.

Here’s a look ahead at the matchups across the GLIAC football world this week — along with predictions for how each game could go: 

NOTE: All game times are listed for Saturday and are in Eastern Time. Games marked with * will be streamed on FloFootball.

Hillsdale at Michigan Tech (noon)*

First question: Will this game go into overtime?

Considering that the Huskies’ first two games of the season have taken a combined five extra periods to settle, it's quite possible.

Knocked down but not out after they lost in overtime on the road at a playoff participant from last season in Bemidji State, the Huskies only came back home the next week to go four overtimes with South Dakota Mines in a 52-50 thriller that they won. 

Tech may have an emerging top arm in reigning GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week Alex Fries (who threw for a school-record 471 passing yards last week), and he’ll be tested against a Hillsdale squad that won’t be intimidated after opening its season with a loss to No. 16 Indianapolis. 

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Still, it was MTU that took care of the Chargers (a former GLIAC program until 2017) with relative ease last season in a 45-20 victory when the two teams last squared off, with Fries tossing three touchdowns in that game. Pick the Huskies to roll in the rematch. 

Predicted Winner: Michigan Tech

Davenport at Bowie State (noon)

Far from an easy win for Davenport when it took on Bowie State last season, the Panthers were just able to escape with a 24-19 win at home against the Bulldogs as a game-sealing interception with under a minute left iced it. Keep in mind that DU picked up that win en route to an 8-0 start and a third-place finish in the GLIAC last year, too, so Bowie State showed that day that it was ready to play on the road. 

Now, the Panthers go to Maryland to take on the Bulldogs this weekend already battle-tested, having lost by a respectable 32-19 to No. 8 Lenoir-Rhyne in their first game, so they are by no means going to be scared of the visitors coming off of a 24-17 season-opening win against Thomas More last week. 

The key for DU may lie in how effectively it can establish the run; defending GLIAC rushing champion Myren Harris had 111 rushing yards against the Saints in a strong return to the field, and his 134-yard day against Bowie State last time out was integral to the Panthers eventually getting the job done in hairy circumstances. 

Predicted Winner: Davenport

Saginaw Valley State at Northwood (1 p.m.)

What version of the Cardinals are we going to see this weekend? That’ll be the burning question for SVSU for some time considering the up-and-down campaign it had in 2023, in which it had a four-game losing streak in the middle of the season then rebounded to finish 6-5 overall. 

One opponent that the Cardinals did take care of with relative ease a year ago, however, was Northwood, as they won 31-8 over the former GLIAC program utilizing a strong defense that held the Timberwolves to just six yards rushing and under 200 yards of total offense. 

The defense will likely be the Cardinals’ calling card in 2024, as well, especially with one of the best players in all of D-II in linebacker Micah Cretsinger (100 tackles, eight interceptions in 2023) anchoring SVSU’s front seven. 

A 38-14 victory over Winona State to open the year also saw a potential new star on defense emerge for the Cardinals in safety Eli Gordon, too, who earned GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week honors after recovering a fumble, snagging an interception and blocking a field goal in a do-it-all day. The Cards will roll, even on the road. 

Predicted Winner: Saginaw Valley State

Findlay at Wayne State (1 p.m.)*

Findlay, Ohio and Detroit are only about a two-hour drive from each other, yet it’s been eight years since Findlay and Wayne State have squared off on the gridiron as the Oilers and Warriors haven’t met since Findlay left the GLIAC for the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in 2017. 

It would be a major, major step forward for WSU under second-year coach Tyrone Wheatley if it was to secure a victory against the Oilers this weekend — and it could have a realistic shot at pulling it off. The Warriors only lost 31-17 to open their season against Tiffin — the No. 1 seed in the Super Region 1 playoff bracket a year ago — and Findlay enters the year as the coaches’ poll’s favorite to take the G-MAC title, starting its season off strong with a 37-21 triumph over Truman State. With all that being said, however, 38 rushing yards on 31 carries (the numbers WSU had on the ground against Tiffin) are simply not going to be good enough to win games in D-II, especially with redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Cox still getting adjusted to the speed and quality of the college game. The Oilers will get it done, and while WSU is improving under Wheatley, it is still a little bit away from consistently competing with top-tier competition again. 

Predicted Winner: Findlay

Wisconsin-Whitewater at Roosevelt (2 p.m.)*

Though the Lakers are going to be a key member of the GLIAC for years to come as it gives the league an important presence in the Chicago area, it’s likely going to take awhile before Roosevelt is competitive in the conference on the gridiron. The only GLIAC football team that has yet to play in 2024, the Lakers will play their first game as a D-II school (after making the leap from NAIA) on Saturday afternoon against the Warhawks, a D-III blue-blood who has won six national championships in the division since 2007. A similar opener last season against another D-III giant in North Central (Illinois) ended poorly for the Lakers (who went 6-4 in 2023) as they lost to the eventual D-III national runner-up by a 41-7 margin, and with Whitewater projected to be in the mix for a D-III national title, a similar result could be in the cards as Roosevelt begins the mighty transition from NAIA to D-II. 

Predicted Winner: Wisconsin-Whitewater

Northern Michigan at Wisconsin-La Crosse (2 p.m.)

Does the Wildcats’ 13-game losing streak dating back to the beginning of last season end this weekend in La Crosse? Well, the signs aren’t encouraging. 

NMU and the Eagles squared off last year in the Wildcats’ iconic Superior Dome in the Upper Peninsula, too, and it was La Crosse — a very good D-III program which won 11 games and made it to the national quarterfinals in 2023 — which whooped the Wildcats by a 34-3 margin and outgained the hosts in total yardage 429-200. 

The Eagles, ranked at No. 6 in the latest D3football.com Top 25 Poll, are coming off a 35-0 rout of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in their season opener on the road last week and should be fired up to make it back-to-back victories over NMU. 

With underclassman starters at both quarterback and running back on the Wildcats’ sideline, there could be some growing pains in this one. 

Predicted Winner: Wisconsin-La Crosse

Ashland at Ferris State (6 p.m.)*

Welcome back (kind of) to the GLIAC, Ashland. The Eagles were members of the league from 1995-2021, winning multiple conference championships in football before bolting off to the G-MAC, where they remain today. 

With 25 games between them since 1974, Ashland and Ferris State have had plenty of history between each other with the Eagles leading the all-time series 14-11, but the Bulldogs — who won back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022, entering a boom period right after Ashland left — have also taken the last four meetings, including their clash last year in Ohio by a 38-28 margin. 

Perhaps even more importantly for the two playoff-chasing squads, however, is that a win by one program will drop the other to a losing record; Ashland enters this weekend 0-1 after a season-opening loss to Indiana (Pennsylvania), while FSU is 1-1 following a defeat to begin the year at Pittsburg State and a rebound against Lake Erie College. Ferris State should be favored to win it in Big Rapids, but don’t be surprised if the Eagles hang around and try to make it interesting late. 

Predicted Winner: Ferris State

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Grand Valley State at Colorado State Pueblo (8 p.m.)

A top-25 showdown (per the most recent AFCA D-II Coaches Poll) in the Centennial State, the No. 3-ranked Lakers — fresh off of pummeling Central State 58-0 in their season opener last week — get their first major test of the season when they go on the road to face the No. 22 ThunderWolves, who are coming off of a strong ranked win over then-No. 21 Texas Permian Basin last Saturday in the latter victory of a 2-0 start. 

Keep in mind that GVSU and CSUP played a season ago, as well, and it got wild; the Lakers survived a 57-49, double-overtime classic at home last year in which the ThunderWolves came back from 21-0 down and had a game-tying touchdown on the final play of regulation. 

It’s a much different team in Allendale this time around, but judging by GVSU’s dominant performance to open the year (and a lethal rushing attack that had 546 yards on the ground against Central State), it’ll have the firepower to keep up with whatever CSUP throws at it. Still, it’s going to be far from an easy win. 

Predicted Winner: Grand Valley State

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Division 2 College Football Rankings - D2football.com Poll

Sept. 9, 2024

  1. Harding (1-0) - Previous Rank: 1
  2. Central Missouri (1-0) - Previous Rank: 2
  3. Pittsburg State (2-0) - Previous Rank: 3
  4. Grand Valley State (1-0) - Previous Rank: 4
  5. Valdosta State (2-0) - Previous Rank: 5
  6. Colorado Mines (1-0) - Previous Rank: 6
  7. Minnesota State (2-0) - Previous Rank: 8
  8. Ferris State (1-1) - Previous Rank: 9
  9. Kutztown (1-0) - Previous Rank: 10
  10. Central Washington (0-1) - Previous Rank: 7
  11. Slippery Rock (1-0) - Previous Rank: 11
  12. Delta State (2-0) - Previous Rank: 12
  13. Lenoir-Rhyne (1-0) - Previous Rank: 13
  14. West Florida (1-0) - Previous Rank: 14
  15. Indianapolis (1-0) - Previous Rank: 16
  16. Western Colorado (1-0) - Previous Rank: 19
  17. Ouachita Baptist (1-0) - Previous Rank: 17
  18. Augustana (1-0) - Previous Rank: 21
  19. Henderson State (1-0) - Previous Rank: 22
  20. Minnesota Duluth (1-0) - Previous Rank: 23
  21. Fort Hays (2-0) - Previous Rank: 24
  22. Virginia Union (1-1) - Previous Rank: 18
  23. Bemidji State (1-1) - Previous Rank: 20
  24. Charleston (2-0) - Previous Rank: 25
  25. CSU Pueblo (2-0) - Previous Rank: NR

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